The Abduction
by John Larimore
Summary: Dr. Claw has Penny kidnapped to distract Inspector Gadget from his cases. Will the secret of the inspector's success be revealed?


  
  


Here's an Inspector Gadget fanfiction I put together. The characters of the Amazon and Mr. Sneak are mine, but I do not own any of the other characters nor did I come up with the concept of Inspector Gadget. Now that we've got the disclaimers out of the way:

  
  
  
  


THE ABDUCTION

  
  


Prologue

  
  


Dr. Claw sat brooding at his desk. He was preparing to meet his two least favorite agents. Mr. Sneak and the Amazon. Mr. Sneak was vile, power-hungry, and underhanded; qualities Dr. Claw normally admired. Unfortunately, Mr. Sneak took them to the point were he couldn't be trusted. Dr. Claw could barely see through his manipulation sometimes.

As for the Amazon, Dr. Claw liked her less. She just wasn't as afraid of him as she should have been. While other clients stood with their knees knocking, the Amazon might actually backtalk. The door opened and the duo walked in.

"Mr. Sneak and the Amazon at your service Dr. Claw," said the thin, lanky man.

"I need you to give Gadget something to occupy his time with," said Dr. Claw.

"Would you like us to get him interested in stamp collecting?" asked the Amazon.

Dr. Claw smashed his fist into the table, narrowly missing MadCat. The feline jumped, landed on the edge of the table, and fell off.

"Watch what you say Amazon!" roared Claw. "This is what I need you to do. Let me put that another way, this is what you're _going _to do!"

  
  
  
  


Part One

  
  


Penny unchained her bike from the rack. She heard a familiar bark and saw Brain running toward her. He'd better stay off school grounds they could both be in trouble. A man walked by and one of the bags he was carrying burst open. Penny knelt to help him pick up the mechanical items. Probably things for auto class.

"Thank you, Penny," he said as they gathered them. "You're always a nice young lady."

Penny raised her head. Did she know him? He seemed to know her. Who was-?

Someone snatched her off her feet. A damp rag pressed over her mouth and nose. Penny struggled as she was carried away from the school. Whoever had her was stronger than anyone who had ever seized her except the Clock Maker's thug.

She suddenly realized that the rag had a strange odor. Was that chloroform? She'd better hold her breathe. The realization came to late. Her thoughts faded as they neared a yellow van. She was vaguely aware of the shouts of nearby people and Brain's barking. Not aware of his pained yelp at all. By the time the van, she was unconscious.

"You should have poured more chloroform on that rag," said Mr. Sneak.

"You just worry about getting us out of here!" retorted the Amazon. "Company's coming."

The yellow can sped away from the pursing crowd. Moments later, Penny awakened. She rose, and half-way to sitting position was pushed back down.

  
  
  
  


"Don't panic," said the woman. "We just need to keep your uncle too busy to stick his nose in Dr. Claw's business."

Penny was stunned. She hadn't expected a woman. However, she had other things to worry about than the gender of her captors. What they were going to do to her for example.

She thought about what she'd been told. Keep her uncle's nose out of Dr. Claw's business. With her missing, her Uncle Gadget would forsake all other cases to look for her. The problem was that she and Brain solved his cases. Penny loved her uncle dearly, but she doubted he could solve a case on his own. And what happened to Brain? Inspector Gadget might have to do this one own his own.

  
  


Inspector Gadget set down his water jug and turned away from his plants. Into his left hand he whispered, "What's that Chief? You're where? Be right there Chief."

Gadget walked into his front yard and looked into the hollow of a tree. Chief Quimby stuck his head out.

"Bad new Gadget. Penny was kidnapped from school and we think it's MAD. We're at the school-Gadget wait!"

Gadget had started running for his house, his garage, his car.

"What?" he shouted.

"Brain was there too. He was injured and has been rushed to a vet. Witnesses-."

"Tell me when we get to Penny's school!" called Gadget. He rushed into the house, seized his car keys, and went to the garage. He left his home in a bigger hurry than ever before. After a few minutes of rushed driving, Gadget reached his niece's school. In group of people, he saw a couple of police uniforms.

"Go, go, Gadget legs!" said the inspector. A yellow hand with a pair of scissors extended from his hat. "I said, 'Go, go, Gadget legs!'"

Magnets popped out of the souls of his shoes.

"Of all the times for you gadgets not to work! Go, go, Gadget legs!"

His legs extended and he raced over to the crowd. His gadgets would work this time. He'd make the work. They had to.

  
  


Meanwhile, Brain lay quietly in his cage. He knew that Penny was in danger and Gadget would need help, but with a broken leg in a cast, he couldn't do much. Gadget would keep him in the house and probably put him in a kennel if he had to leave town to look for Penny. He wouldn't be part of this case. Just Gadget, on his own.

  
  
  
  


Part Two

  
  


"Why would they take Penny?" Inspector Gadget asked a fellow officer after he finished writing down witness statements. "It doesn't make sense."

"Not from the viewpoint of a sensible, law-abiding citizen," responded the officer, "but from the criminal's view it makes perfect sense."

"The criminal's view?" gasped Gadget. "You're looking at this from the criminal's view?"

"Have to. You're the best weapon against MAD we've got. Now you're distracted. You're not going to want to take any cases until your niece is safe. That means the case will probably go to 

  
  
  
  


someone with less experience and it won't be done as well. Sometimes to solve a criminal case you have think like a criminal."

"Oh," said Gadget. His friend was right. He would have to consider the criminal's thought pattern to find his motive. Why had he forgotten that?

"I'm going after them," said Gadget.

"How? You don't know where they went."

"That way," said Gadget, pointing in the direction indicated by witnesses.

"And then what? Did they get on I-75 and head north or south? Did they go past I-75 and get on State Highway 6 heading east or west? Did they go past Highway 6 or turn before they got there. We have no way of knowing which way they're headed."

"What's wrong with me?" thought Gadget. "Everything came so easy before. I went with my first hunch and it worked. Now every choice I make seems wrong. I've got to focus. This can't be the hardest case for me."

So far, however, it was.

  
  


The Amazon carried Penny under her arm as she walked into the house. She dropped her hostage face down on the couch and rolled her over. Penny kicked at her with bound feet and received a stinging slap. The Amazon wrapped a hand around her neck.

"Don't ever do that again!" snapped the Amazon. "If you don't want to get hurt you'd better behave. Do you understand?"

Penny nodded and was released. She was shocked. She'd almost never been struck before. Certainly never by one of Claw's agents. They'd restrained her, but never hit. What else would they do?

The Amazon went into the next room and saw Mr. Sneak talking to a screen. She stood back until he finished and walked over to her.

"He want's us to keep her for now."

"How long is 'for now?' I told Claw that I didn't want to this for more than three or four days. I ain't no babysitter."

"If you keep pushing Claw he's going to push back. And people who Claw pushes don't always get back up. You must have known we could have her for a while so deal with it." Mr. Sneak flashed the grin he got whenever he was about to annoy someone. "Besides, 'ain't' isn't a proper word plus you used a double negative."

"Great, now you're an English teacher. If the kid's going to be here, you're the one who's going to get stuck with her. I'm taking her to the room and then she's all yours."

In the next room, Penny had straining to hear their conversation. She didn't think she was in mortal danger yet, but she wasn't counting on that to last.

What could she do? She'd lost her computer book when she'd been abducted and Brain may have been hurt. It was just her except for maybe her uncle. What would _he_ do? Maybe she could escape. Maybe her uncle or the other police would find her. Or maybe not. The other maybe's weren't very appealing.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Part Three

  
  


Penny sat on her bed thinking. No, that wasn't right. This wasn't _her _bed and this wasn't _her _room. This was prison, a cage. Just a cage a bit more gilded than the one's she'd been in before.

She was unbounded, ungagged, and the was told she'd stay that way contingent on her behavior. Still, the door was locked and there were no windows. They'd taken her wrist communicator because Dr. Sneak thought there was something "suspicious" about it.

"I should have known you'd try something like this Claw," thought Penny. "You couldn't get my uncle so you got me. Well, you'll still lose. I just have to figure out how."

  
  


Inspector Gadget and Chief Quimby looked through the notes that had come in. A vehicle with the description matching the one Penny had been taken in had been spotted in Leckon City. The police were pursuing the lead. Gadget had initially wanted to go, but decided not to. If the lead was legitimate, he'd follow it. Until he was sure, he'd wait. He didn't want to be chasing a dead end when good evidence came in. Maybe his efforts to focus and clear his head were working. While he looked through the paper work an officer came in. 

"We've got a new lead," he said. "From the partial license plate number we were given, we've determined that the van is a stolen vehicle from Bengton. The owner reports that a man and a woman wearing masks took the vehicle."

"MAD agents usually work in a restricted area. Let's do a run of known agents last reported in Bengton and towns nearby."

They went to the computer room and several minutes later had a two names.

"I'd say we're looking for Ida Hollage, a.k.a. the Amazon," suggested Chief Quimby. "Wanted for assault and robbery. Last known whereabouts, Groat, a few miles south of Bengton. She usually works with someone else, but rarely the same person twice."

"The other one seems strange," said Inspector Gadget. "Howard Greent, a.k.a. the Virus, only computer crime and supposedly straight now. Why suddenly switch to kidnapping?"

"You're right," replied Chief Quimby. "The Amazon's accomplish is probably someone else. We'll keep our eyes out for her. Let's bring in the Virus anyway. At least we know where he is."

Inspector Gadget was worried. His most important case was his hardest. He usually seemed to breeze through cases. Now, he could barely decide what to do. Sure, he'd made the decision not follow a lead that may have been bad, but just that choice seemed to strain his mind.

"I'll do this," he thought. "Don't worry Penny, I'm coming."

  
  


"Come in Mr. Sneak," growled Dr. Claw. "Come in."

Dr. Sneak's face appeared on the monitor.

"Here I am Mr. Claw. How may I serve you?"

"Report."

"She's locked up. Little Penny's not going anywhere."

"Good. Be ready to move out or exterminate her at a moments notice."

"Don't worry Dr. Claw, you can count on us."

"I'd better, or you can count yourselves out."

Dr. Claw turned off the computer and worried. He didn't like having the two agents he trusted the least on a case together. Still, the skill they had made them perfect for the job. Besides, after two 

  
  
  
  


years of failures he was getting a bit desperate. Now, he had other plans to make. Plans that involved the Mint, the U.N., Fort Knoz, and on.

"Soon we'll make our move MadCat," he said. "No Gadget in the way, means nothing in the way. The world will be ours."

The man and feline sat laughing as lighting crackled outside.

  
  
  
  


Part Four

  
  


Chief Quimby bit the stem of his pipe. It wasn't hard to figure out why MAD had kidnapped Penny. The things they had to figure out were what they'd do to the child and when they'd make their move. Whenever it was, Gadget would be to preoccupied with finding his niece to investigate the crime. Just one more reason to find Penny as soon as possible.

Quimby thought a little more about Penny. Nice, well-behaved child. She seemed bright to. Very interested in police work. She'd probably be a good officer someday. Sometimes though, the Chief almost thought she was involved in Gadget's cases. It was usually Penny who called him and reported that the case had been solved. It seemed a little strange that Gadget would have Penny do that, but police work can be crazy and maybe Gadget had to rush to finish the job and someone else call reinforcements.

Right now, there was something else strange about Gadget. He seemed somewhat incompetent. Sure, Gadget had always been a bit of a goof-up. Handing self-destruct messages back and losing control of his Gadgets, but he always got the job done without much problem. Now, he didn't seem to know what to do.

Maybe it was because he too close to the case. After all, it was his niece who was missing. How could he not be emotionally involved? Still, Gadget had always pulled through when it counted. It really counted now. His thoughts were interrupted by a buzzing intercom.

"Chief Quimby, Howard Greent has been brought in for questioning."

The Amazon scowled as she carried the tray of food up to the room. She was supposed to be an enforcer, but now she'd been reduced to maid! Where was Mr. Sneak? He was supposed to be doing this. Well, hopefully, she wouldn't have to this much longer. Taking hostages was fine, but keeping hostages wasn't her forte. As long as she didn't have to kill the kid it would be fine.

That was the only thing about being a MAD agent that bothered her. Most agents didn't seem to have problem with carrying out death orders. If they did they didn't voice them. Heck, it was rare for any one to say anything to Dr. Claw except, "Yes sir!" while their teeth chattered. It repulsed her how easy her co-workers were to intimidate. Still, the issue was would she ever be ordered to kill someone? Slapped someone around to remind them who was in charge was one thing, but death? She didn't what she'd do then.

"I brought breakfast," said the Amazon as she entered the room.

"Thank a lot," said Penny, scowling. "Now I have everything I need in this little room that has nothing to do in it."

"Watch it kid," said the Amazon. She put the tray down and started to leave then room. "The food service might stop."

Penny watched the door closed. She'd been in bad situations before, but didn't no how get out 

  
  
  
  


of this one. She never realized how much she depended on her equipment and on Brain. Now, she had neither. The only way out of the room was the door and there was no way to pick the lock. Whatever she tried she'd have to be careful. Next time she could get worse than a slap.

She pulled the paper towel off the plate. She was hungry enough to risk poison. Dry toast and runny eggs. Well, she didn't expect grade A service. Hmmmmm, could silverware be used to pick a lock?

  
  


"Look at my record," said the Virus. "I did computer crime, not crimes against people. Besides, I'm out of it now."

"We know how Dr. Claw works," said Gadget. "When his agents get out of prison, he contacts them. You reported that he got in touch with you."

"In accordance with the terms of my probation. I think I need a lawyer."

"You're not under arrest, Mr. Greent," said Chief Quimby.

"I don't have to be do I?"

"Do you know an agent named Ida Hollage, alias the Amazon?" asked Inspector Gadget. He considered threatening the man, but decided on a less aggressive course of action.

"That female thug? I know her. Dr. Claw didn't use her much. Only agent in MAD who'd stand up to him. That drove him nuts. She wasn't around very often."

"What else can you tell us?" asked Gadget.

"Why? Is she a suspect in the kidnapping?"

"We just have a few questions for her," said Chief Quimby.

"She has a home in the suburbs of Groat. Right on the edge of town."

"Can you be more specific?"

"First, get me a lawyer. Then, _you_ be more specific about the questions you have for her. Then, I'll talk."

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
